


Four

by Golden_Asp



Series: One, Three, Four. [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Multi, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Resurrection, Running Away, Stephen Strange Needs a Hug, do not copy to another site, do not copy without permission, self hatred, why isn't that a tag yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 06:38:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19057234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Asp/pseuds/Golden_Asp
Summary: One became three, and three would become four.If only Stephen would stop running long enough for him to realize he's right where he's supposed to be.





	Four

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the final installment in one, three, four. I had some problems with this one but I like it. I was so very tempted to end it after Stephen left and just leave it there, but I wanted them to get a happy ending.
> 
> might make more sense if you read one and three first. Both are short compared to this. oops.
> 
> so, this happened.
> 
> not beta-ed

“I love you three thousand.”

Stephen hears those words every night. Tony’s voice, a recording left for his daughter. Morgan plays it every night, right before she goes to bed.

It’s a knife being driven into a wound that just won’t heal, but Stephen pretends it doesn’t bother him. 

They celebrate Morgan’s tenth birthday with a small party at the lake house. Rhodey, Happy, Peter, May, Carol, Wong and a few others are there. Morgan’s friends from her school laugh and run around the property.

Stephen watches them, that heavy feeling in his chest. Pepper slides her arm around his waist, squeezing him gently.

“I noticed you didn’t make any balloon animals,” Pepper says.

Stephen snorts, shaking his head. “They all end up looking like dicks and that’s really not appropriate for a child’s birthday party.”

Pepper laughs quietly. “Your balloon animals don’t look like anything.”

“This is true. I’m awful at them.”

“You have other talents that make up for it.”

“Why thank you.”

She smiled up at him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. They stand in silence, watching Morgan chase her friends across the yard.

“She’s happy, right?” Stephen whispers.

Pepper takes Stephen’s hand and squeezes it gently, lacing their fingers together. Stephen lets her anchor him, amazed as always that she has become his anchor. 

If it wasn’t for her keeping him in this reality, he often thought he wouldn’t be here anymore.

Pepper Potts-Stark is the strongest woman Stephen’s ever met.

“She’s happy, Stephen. We both are.”

Stephen presses a kiss to Pepper’s temple and goes to join the children when Morgan yells for him. It still startles him every time she calls him Dad. He knows it’ll never feel right, but Morgan insists. It hurts every time.

Pepper never says anything about it, but he wonders if she hates him for stealing Tony’s title. She insists she doesn’t, usually smacking him upside the head if he does say anything.

He sees why Tony loved Pepper so much. She’s an easy woman to love. 

He conjures butterflies for the children, a large red and gold one with markings similar to Tony’s Iron Man mask landing in Morgan’s outstretched hands.

“I love you three thousand,” Morgan whispers to the butterfly.

Stephen pretends he doesn’t hear.

 

Stephen’s hands shake as he finishes the dishes, putting the last plate away. Everyone has left the house. Morgan is asleep in her room, the recording of Tony’s voice—I love you three thousand—whispering softly in her ear. Pepper is throwing out the trash from the day, gathering torn gift wrap and paper plates with cake crumbs on them.

Stephen sighs, dropping his head. He moves to brew himself some tea, glancing at the picture of Tony and Peter in the corner. He scrubs his face as the water boils. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost six years since Tony’s death.

He reaches up and touches the gold ring hanging from a chain around his neck. It scares him, terrifies him. 

Pepper asked him to marry her, them. Months ago. Stephen foolishly said yes. He fingers the ring, lost in thought.

Pepper’s ring sits on her right hand. Stephen never asked her to take it off, and he never will. She moved it to her right hand of her own free will two years ago. Tony’s ring hangs on a chain around her neck.

She wears a band that matches Stephen’s on her left hand, even though they aren’t married yet.

Stephen pours the water into his mug and drops the teabag in. He watches as the water turns dark as the tea steeps. He sighs again, lifting the mug to his lips and taking a sip.

“Gotta say, Doc. The domesticity suits you.”

Stephen freezes, the world falling away from him. 

It can’t be.

It’s not possible.

He turns slowly, staring at the man standing in the middle of his kitchen.

He tries to say his name, but the words get stuck in his throat.

Tony Stark tilts his head, a smirk flashing across his lips.

The mug of tea slips from Stephen’s shaking fingers. It seems to take an age to reach the floor, shattering into tiny pieces, hot tea burning his toes.

Pepper runs in, hearing the sound of shattering ceramic. 

“Stephen, are you okay?” Pepper asks. Her attention is locked on Stephen and she slows as she nears him. He’s paler than she’s ever seen, eyes wide and lips parted in shock.

“Stephen?” she asks. He makes some sort of pained noise that nearly breaks her heart, but she follows his gaze. Her hand spasms on his arm.

“Tony?” she whispers, her other hand coming up to cover her mouth.

“Hey, Pep,” Tony says softly. She looks at him. His right arm is gone, missing at the shoulder. Faint scarring travels up his neck, covering the right side of his jaw and up the side of his face. His right ear is slightly shriveled, a bad burn injury. His hair is greyer, his goatee nearly all grey, but he’s standing in her kitchen, giving her that little half smile that she’s missed so much.

“Tony!” she lunges forward, crashing into him. They stumble into the table, Tony’s one arm tight around her waist as she sobs into his shoulder.

Stephen stands there, his heart as shattered as the mug on the floor. 

He turns and slips out of the kitchen, the empty feeling he’s been fighting since he saw those fourteen million futures on Titan rising up in him again.

He stops by the dining room table. Some of Morgan’s homework is on it, a picture she’d colored just for Stephen. He’s unaware of the tears rolling down his face as he lifts the chain with his engagement ring off his neck. He stares at it and drops it onto the table.

It seems to hit with a ringing finality. 

He pulls his sling ring out of his pocket and stumbles to the door. He’s cut his foot on the glass from his mug and he can feel the wood of the deck digging into the wound, the grass pulling his skin apart.

He spins up the portal. He doesn’t care where he’s going.

He doesn’t belong here.

He doesn’t belong anywhere.

:::

Pepper sobs into Tony’s shoulder, her arms around him, his arm around her waist. They sit on the floor, both crying, both whispering each other’s name. He rocks back and forth, tears running down his face as Pepper sits back, cupping his cheeks.

“How?” she whispers. She’d been there when he’d taken his last, shuddering breath. There had been no denying that he was dead, his heart silent. She remembered standing there as his casket was lowered into the cold ground. 

Tony kisses her and she leans into it. He tastes like home.

“How?” she asks again.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Tony says honestly. “I remember snapping my fingers, and I remember you. Then…” He shrugs. 

Pepper bites her lip, looking at Tony closely. He looks like her Tony, he feels like her Tony. She knows she should wonder, but she can’t. 

Tony is back.

That’s all that matters.

:::

Morgan wakes up to go to the bathroom. She shuffles out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes. She thinks about her birthday and how much fun she’d had. She stops in the hallway, frowning at the hardwood floor.

There’s bloody footprints leading from the kitchen to the door. Curious, she follows them, the need to pee forgotten. They lead to the front door and she pushes it open cautiously, looking around. 

There’s no one there. The footprints stop abruptly and she can smell the lingering, familiar scent of a portal.

Suddenly, she’s scared.

Did Dad leave?

She knows it bothers Stephen when she calls him Dad, but she loves him. She doesn’t remember much of her real father. She remembers feeling warm and loved and cared for, and she feels all those things with Stephen.

She knows what Tony looks like because she plays that message back every night.

She remembers loving him three thousand.

She still does, but she loves Stephen too.

“Dad?” she calls softly, looking around. The blood is relatively fresh and she’s even more scared. Was he hurt? What happened?

“Dad!” she yells, turning and running back into the house. She hears a noise from the kitchen and goes there, freezing on the threshold.

“Daddy?” she whispers, her eyes wide.

Tony Stark sits on the floor of the kitchen, her mother in his arm.

Tony stares at her, tears on his face.

“Morgoona,” he whispers.

Morgan flies across the kitchen, slamming into him and driving him to the ground. She’s seen impossible things in her young life, but this doesn’t feel impossible. It feels like a miracle.

“I love you three thousand,” Tony whispers in her ear.

Morgan sobs, cradled in her father’s arm.

:::

They sit on the floor, just holding each other and basking in each other’s presence. Morgan sits on Tony’s lap with Pepper pressed against his left side.

“My girls,” Tony whispers, eyes closed.

He’s home. God, he’s really home.

Morgan sniffs and wipes her eyes, looking at her mother.

“What happened to Da—” She stops talking, a confused look crossing her face. If her father is here, what should she call Stephen?

“I don’t know what to call him,” Morgan whispers, biting her lip.

Pepper looks around, suddenly realizing that Stephen is no longer in the kitchen. 

“Oh God,” she whispers, scrambling to her feet. She stares at the broken mug, at the bloody footprints, and feels her heart sink.

In the wake of seeing Tony alive, she’d forgotten about Stephen. 

“Stephen!” she yells, stepping over the broken mug. Tony gets to his feet, Morgan balanced on his hip. His left arm easily supports her as he watches Pepper.

“Pep,” Tony says. “What’s going on?”

“Did you see where he went?” Pepper asks him. Her heart is torn in two different directions. Tony is here, alive, _alive_ , but Stephen is important to her too.

God, she does love Stephen, and now she’s scared for him. 

“The footprints go to the deck,” Morgan whispers, one arm around Tony’s neck. Pepper nods and they walk out. There’s no sign of him.

“Why would he portal away?” Tony mumbles, hiking Morgan higher on his hip. She’s much heavier than the last time he’d gotten to hold her. He buries his nose in her hair, breathing deeply. 

Pepper’s thumb traces the ring on her left hand. She isn’t quite sure what to do. She turns and leads them back into the house, shutting the door behind them. She walks into the dining room and freezes when she sees something glint on the table.

Her hand shakes as she reaches out, picking up the gold chain with the simple ring on it, the one she had given Stephen when she asked him to officially join their family.

“He’s gone,” she whispers, clutching the ring to her chest. Her emotions are everywhere, thoughts running in a million different directions.

“Forever?” Morgan cries, voice rising.

“I don’t know, baby,” Pepper whispers, turning to her daughter. She steps close, the three of them connected.

“He can’t be gone forever,” Morgan says, ignoring the tears spilling down her face. “He can’t!”

Tony sits carefully in one of the chairs, Morgan balanced precariously on his lap. Morgan clings to him, tears rolling down her cheeks. He looks up at Pepper, at the rings on both hands and the one on the chain in her hand.

“I think we need to talk,” Tony says softly.

Pepper sets the ring down, nodding slowly.

They move to the couch after Pepper cleans up the broken mug. One of the many cleaning bots that Morgan had created starts working on the bloody footprints, but Pepper sends it away. They’ll deal with it later. 

Morgan sits on one side of Tony, Pepper on the other. Pepper takes his hand, playing with calloused fingers she never thought she’d get to feel again. 

Haltingly, she starts to talk. She tells him how she had given Stephen the message Tony had recorded for him, how she and Stephen had started talking, how much Morgan liked him. She dropped her eyes when she told Tony that she’d kissed Stephen first, that she made the first move. 

Tony squeezes her hand, offering silent comfort.

She tells him how Morgan started calling Stephen ‘Dad’ a little less than a year ago, and the guilty look that would cross Stephen’s face every time. She talks about the guilt that Stephen harbors, convinced that he stole them from Tony.

She tells him how she asked Stephen to join their family, had given him the ring. She tells him how Stephen had wept, nodding silently and agreeing to it. She tells him how Stephen is always happy to help Morgan with anything. She knows he loves the girl even if it hurts him when she calls him ‘Dad.’

Her words run out and Tony touches her cheek, dragging his thumb through her tears. She looks at him, those eyes she’d missed so much even though she saw them every day in their daughter, those broad shoulders, strong enough to hold the weight of the world, the _universe_.

“I love you,” she whispers. God, she’s missed him so much.

“I know.”

“You did not quote Star Wars at Mommy,” Morgan says, rolling her eyes. Tony smiles, looking at his daughter.

“You know Star Wars, do you?”

“Of course,” she says with a sniff. “Peter and Ned watched it with me.”

Tony gives her a suspicious look. “Which ones?”

“The originals. Duh.”

“Good,” Tony says, dropping a kiss on her head. He turns his attention back to Pepper, tilting his head. “You love Stephen, too.”

Pepper sucks in a shallow breath, dropping her eyes. His thumb traces her cheek, brushing her lips, and she finally nods.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, voice cracking.

“Don’t be,” Tony says immediately. “I was dead, Pep. Do you know what I told him in that message? The one I left for him?”

“I never listened to it. It wasn’t my place.”

“I told him that he was just your type. A snarky asshole.”

Pepper’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you telling me you planned this?”

Tony shrugs, eyes looking into the distance. “I didn’t want to die, but I knew it was a distinct possibility. The way Strange…Stephen…the way his behavior changed after he looked into those futures, the way he treated me, I knew the chance of me coming out of this alive were slim to none. I also knew Stra—Stephen was a good man, and would be there for you. It made sense to me at the time.”

They sit in silence for a moment. 

“I’m going to call Wong,” Pepper says, getting to her feet. She pulls out her phone, pacing across the room. Tony’s eyes follow her, Morgan half asleep against him.

“Wong,” Pepper says. “Is Stephen there? He’s not? Has he been by at all? No.” Pepper bites her lip, thumb tracing the ring on her left hand. She lifts her eyes and to meet Tony’s.

“Maybe you better make a portal and come through,” she whispers, looking at Tony. She hangs up and steps back as a portal forms in front of them. Wong steps through, his eyes landing on Tony. He’s immediately wary and on the defensive.

“Stark,” Wong says slowly.

“Wong,” Tony says, inclining his head. 

“Is it really him?” Pepper whispers. She believes—with her heart and soul—that the man in front of them really is Tony Stark, but she needs to make sure.

Wong takes a step closer and starts moving his hands in complicated patterns. Tony watches, waits, for his verdict. 

“His energy matches the energy of this universe,” Wong says, dropping his hand. Pepper closes her eyes, tears rolling unchecked down her face. 

It really is her Tony. He’s home.

“Where’s Stephen?” Wong asks, pulling her from her thoughts.

“I don’t know,” she whispers.

“He saw me and looked like he’d seen a ghost,” Tony says. “He disappeared after…”

Pepper feels a stab of guilt. After she had abandoned Stephen for Tony.

Wong seems to understand what they’re not saying, a flash of sadness crossing his stoic face. 

“I see,” Wong says.

“He’ll be back, right?” Morgan whispers, cheek smushed against her father’s arm.

No one replies. 

No one knows what to say.

:::

A day turns into a week, a week turns into a month, and then two.

They’ve heard nothing from Stephen.

The Cloak mopes around the lake house, spending most of its time with Morgan. Stephen had left without it, and it seemed to be at loose ends without him there.

Tony has reintegrated himself into their lives. Tony will never forget the days that he met everyone again.

Rhodey sobbed into his shoulder, both men crying as they held each other. Happy brought him more cheeseburgers than he and Morgan could eat, tears rolling down his face. Thor had embraced him, his feet coming clear off the ground as the god wept in joy for the return of his shield brother.

Bruce, his arm still mangled and weak, hugged him. He’d been surprised when he saw Sam Wilson with the shield. He remembered that shield breaking.

He’d been shocked to meet a very old Steve Rogers.

Steve had seemed delighted to see him, strength still in those old arms as he squeezed Tony to him.

Steve had died peacefully in his sleep not two days later, like he’d been waiting to say goodbye to Tony.

Tony stood shoulder to shoulder with Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson at the funeral, watching as Steve was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. 

Tony had been a bit put out to realize that his daughter and Bucky Barnes were friends, and he’d been shocked when the first words out of Barnes’ mouth were ‘I’m sorry. I never got to apologize to you.’

He thinks they might be friends one day.

When he saw Nebula for the first time, they embraced hard, saying nothing. He was surprised at the changes in Wanda. She was more mature, more powerful than ever, and doing her best to make up for past mistakes. 

She’d said that Stephen and Charles Xavier had trained her, and Tony felt his heart squeeze at the sorcerer’s name.

Clint had cried when he saw Tony. 

Maybe Natasha could come back one day too, although no one said those words out loud. 

Peter had sobbed for hours, clinging to Tony and babbling incoherently until Harley and Pepper peeled him away and put him to bed.

Carol gave him a gentle hug and a whispered ‘welcome back’ like she had fully expected him to appear one day. Fury just arched his eyebrow and Tony flipped him off.

It was good to be back.

Stephen’s absence is a hole in the lake house. No one has seen or heard from him since he vanished the day Tony reappeared.

Tony builds himself an arm, red and gold and absolutely outrageous. Shuri helped him with it, being very good at working with Barnes’ arm. Tony loves having the use of two hands.

He wears his wedding ring on his left hand, and he and Pepper picked up where they left off.

It’s not easy. There’s a Stephen Strange shaped hole in Pepper’s heart and she doesn’t know how to fix it. She loves Tony with everything she is, but she loves Stephen as well. 

Morgan loves having her dad back, hearing ‘I love you three thousand’ every night for real, but she misses Stephen. She just wants him to come back.

Tony sits on the couch, Pepper curled next to him while Morgan works on her homework. Tony’s visited all the Sanctums and Kamar-Taj in the past month, searching for Stephen. No one has seen the sorcerer supreme. 

“I still don’t understand why he’d leave,” Tony grumbles.

“Guilt,” Pepper says quietly. They’ve had this conversation before, but it never gets easier.

Tony lets out a frustrated sound. “He has nothing to feel guilty about!”

“We know that, but he feels that he is the direct cause of your death,” Pepper says, taking Tony’s metal hand in hers. “He feels like he stole us from you, took your place in my heart.”

Tony looks at her sadly and she rests her head against his temple. 

“I wish he hadn’t run from me,” Tony whispers. “I want to thank him, hug him, shake some sense into that pretty head of his.”

“He loves you,” Morgan says from her spot on the floor, nose buried in her assigned reading.

Pepper and Tony look at her. “What?” Tony asks, somewhat stupidly. Pepper stays quiet, holding his hand in her lap. 

Morgan marks her page and closes her book. She looks at him, and Tony is always taken aback by the sight of his own eyes staring at him from her face. He’s struck anew with the absolute love he has for his child.

Morgan shrugs. “He lived through more than fourteen million futures, mostly following you through them. He watched you die in all of them.”

“It’s hard not to fall in love with someone when you see that,” Pepper says softly, running her fingers over the scars on Tony’s face.

Tony blinks, vividly remembering the look in Stephen’s eyes as he crumbled into ash.

“Oh,” Tony says. It makes sense now.

“You’re an easy man to love, Tony,” Pepper says.

He arches his eyebrow. “You’re probably the only one to ever say that.”

Pepper just smiles at him, and the three of them sit in silence, missing their fourth.

:::

Morgan wakes to the sound of a portal spinning. She sits up, blanket gathered around her waist. She stares, heart pounding in her chest as a familiar shape steps through, collapsing.

She leaps out of bed and manages to grab him around the waist before he hits the ground. The portal fizzes out, leaving Morgan with an armful of Stephen Strange.

“Mom! Daddy!” she yells. The Cloak hovers next to Stephen for a moment before wrapping him up as best it can. 

Stephen isn’t moving. His leg is at an odd angle, and Morgan can feel his ribs through the thin, ragged, bloodstained sleepshirt he’s wearing. Morgan can hear the pounding footsteps of her parents as they run down the hall, door banging against the wall as Tony flings it open.

“Stephen!” Pepper cries, dropping to her knees next to them. Tony drops next to them, immediately talking to FRIDAY.

“What are his life signs, FRIDAY?” Tony barks.

“Weak,” FRIDAY says. “He’s malnourished, has multiple fractures, his leg is broken, he has a deep laceration across his chest.”

“He looks worse than you did when you came back from space,” Pepper whispers, running her fingers over the knife edge of Stephen’s cheekbone.

Tony gathers Stephen into his arms and stands up. He’s distressed by how light Stephen is in his arms. “FRI, call Wong and Christine. Get them here asap. I’ll take him to our room and clean him up. Morgan, change your shirt, it’s bloody.”

He knows he won’t be able to keep Morgan away, but that’s okay. 

They all love Stephen.

Tony thinks he might, anyway. He hasn’t really spent any time with the man, not really, but he’s listened to Morgan talk about him, listened as Pepper told him about their years together, how Stephen had cried when she’d asked him to marry them, and he sees the man through their eyes.

So yeah, Tony thinks he might love the man. He’s willing to give it a try, at least. 

Tony gets Stephen to the master bedroom, laying him carefully on the bed. He grabs a pair of scissors and cuts off the bloody, ragged shirt. He sucks in a breath at how emaciated he is, his ribs prominent, bruises stark against pale skin.

“What happened to you?” Tony whispers. Pepper takes a ragged breath when she sees him, perching carefully on the edge of the bed. 

Together, she and Tony strip him naked. They carefully wipe him down, only stopping when a portal opens and Wong and Christine Palmer walk through. Christine curses the moment she sees Stephen, dropping her medical bag on the bed next to him.

Wong stares for a moment before holding his hands above Stephen’s chest. 

“He’s nearly depleted his energy,” Wong whispers. Christine works frantically with Tony to set Stephen’s leg, Tony using nanotechnology to immobilize him. 

“What does that mean?” Morgan asks, standing in the corner and watching the adults work to stabilize Stephen.

Wong glances at the little girl. “It means he’s nearly dead,” Wong says. Perhaps too bluntly, but he’s never been one to skate around the truth. Morgan’s face screws up as she tries not to cry and Pepper pulls her close in a hug. 

Morgan stays huddled in the corner of the room, eyes never leaving Stephen’s face.

“I’ve done what I can to stabilize him,” Christine says, sitting back. “The rest is up to him.”

Wong moves his hands over Stephen in intricate patterns. “It’s not only his body that’s damaged, it’s his soul. He needs time. Time to regather his strength magically and physically.”

“He’s going to run the moment he wakes up,” Tony says quietly. 

Wong rests his hand on Stephen’s forehead, the Cloak coming to cover Stephen’s body. “He’ll be unconscious until his magical energy comes back. Physically, his leg is broken. Sit on him. Don’t let him leave.”

“He’s not going to die?” Morgan whispers.

“No,” Tony says firmly, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. “We’re not going to let him.”

:::

Stephen’s body heals slowly, but he shows no signs of waking. Every day finds Morgan curled up next to him on the bed. She reads to him, holds his scarred hands, begs him to come back.

Night finds Pepper stretched out next to Stephen, pale fingers tracing sharp cheekbones. Tony watches as she kisses the corner of Stephen’s mouth every night.

Tony sits with him during the day, watching, waiting. He wants to get to know this man.

Nearly a month later, while Tony reclines next to Stephen on the large bed, his eyes open.

Tony hears his breathing change and sets down his tablet, eyes locking on the sorcerer.

Stephen stares at the ceiling, confused. He doesn’t quite know where he is and his heartrate spikes.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Tony whispers as Stephen whimpers.

Stephen’s eyes snap to Tony and widen, something akin to terror and guilt flashing across his face. Stephen tries to jerk away, but his body, unused to movement after nearly a month, protests. He cries out in pain, slumping against the bed.

“Hey, deep breath, you’re okay,” Tony whispers, gently taking Stephen by the shoulders. Stephen shakes as he stares at him, a trembling hand reaching out to touch Tony’s cheek.

“Yeah, I’m real. And Wong checked, I am me, from this universe, I mean,” Tony says.

“How?” Stephen croaks, his voice harsh from disuse. 

“Got me. Wong said magic.”

Stephen’s hand slides from Tony’s cheek to land in his lap, exhausted from the small movements.

“I’m sorry,” Stephen whispers.

“For what?” Tony asks. “For setting me on the path that led to my death? Or for setting me on the path that led me to the happiest years of my life?”

Stephen cringes, looking away. Tony can see how badly Stephen wants to disappear.

“You weren’t planning on coming back, were you?” Tony whispers.

Stephen glances at him then looks away. He shakes his head minutely. He wasn’t supposed to come back. He barely remembers falling through the portal into Morgan’s room. He wasn’t thinking when he did it, falling through the portal to get away from the creature who was trying to eat him. 

“You don’t need me here,” Stephen says, looking at his hands folded on top of the Cloak.

“You idiot,” Pepper’s voice comes from the door. Tears roll slowly down her cheeks and Stephen flinches. He never wanted to make her sad. He’d taken so much from her.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

Pepper sits on the other side of him, gently taking his hands. He tries to pull away, but Tony is at his back, effectively trapping him between them. Stephen whines, eyes wide as Pepper cups his face.

“There is no happiness without you, Stephen Strange,” Pepper whispers. “I thought you knew that.”

“I…I killed Tony.”

Tony slips his arms, one metal, one flesh and blood, around Stephen’s too narrow waist. Stephen twitches, staring down at the mismatched arms holding him against a strong body.

“You didn’t kill me, you idiot. The stones did. Thanos did, if you want to get technical, but not you.”

“I chose this path,” Stephen says, shaking in the circle of Tony’s arms. His skin crawls from so much contact. He hadn’t realized how much he missed being touched in his time away.

“Maybe,” Tony says, “but you also gave me Morgan. Pepper told me this was the only future where she exists, and you know what, Stephen?”

Stephen shakes his head, tears running down his face.

“Her existence makes it all worth it.”

Stephen lets out a hiccupping sob and Pepper enfolds them both in her arms. Stephen sobs between them, broken, bitter, heaving sobs. He’s far too thin in Tony’s arms, far too weak to throw them off and disappear like part of his mind is screaming for him to do.

Pepper and Tony hold him between them, letting him cry. Pepper’s tears fall onto Stephen’s head and she can see that Tony’s eyes are wet. Stephen finally goes limp, sagging against Tony’s chest. Carefully, Tony lays him down, cupping his cheek.

Pepper dashes her tears away, sniffing quietly. They sit in silence, the sleeping man between them.

“I can’t give him up, Tony,” she whispers, voice cracking with despair.

Tony looks at her, reaching across Stephen and taking her hand in his. “And I’m never going to ask you to,” he says. 

Pepper and Tony stretch out on either side of Stephen, their fingers linked on Stephen’s stomach. 

They don’t sleep; they simply listen to Stephen breathing. 

It means he’s alive, he’s with them.

He hasn’t left.

:::

The next time Stephen wakes, Tony is curled against him. Stephen tries to pull back, staring at the man in shock.

“Hey, don’t strain yourself,” Tony says, sitting up straight. Stephen blinks at him, trying to sit up and Tony helps him against the pillows. 

“You’re real,” Stephen says, his voice rough.

“Mostly,” Tony says, waving his metal hand. Stephen watches the fingers for a moment, pulling his eyes back to Tony’s face. Tony can see him tremble and he reaches out, dragging his flesh thumb over Stephen’s cheek. Stephen closes his eyes and leans into the touch.

He flushes, realizing what he’s doing, and pulls back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Tony tilts his head. “Why not?”

“You’re…you’re married.”

“Yeah, and?”

Stephen gives him a withering look and Tony feels a thread of hope unfurl in his chest. That’s the Stephen Strange he remembers.

“Stephen, you’re awake,” Pepper’s voice comes from the door and Stephen flinches away from Tony, guilt clear on his face.

“Quit that,” Tony says, whacking him upside the head. 

Pepper sets the tray with tea and finger food on the table next to the bed and sits next to Stephen. She gently cups his face and leans forward, pressing her lips against his.

Stephen whimpers in surprise, going tense. He tries to pull away but only ends up pressed against Tony’s body. He feels trapped and doesn’t know what to do.

“What are you doing?” he asks, eyes wide.

“Kissing you?” Pepper says, reaching for the tea.

“Why?”

Pepper stops, giving her full attention to Stephen. “Because I love you.”

His face crumbles and tears well in those iridescent eyes. “You’re not supposed to. Tony is back…he’s right there!” He’s half hysteric, eyes wide.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Tony says, resting his hands on Stephen’s shoulders. “Easy, Stephen. Breathe with me.” Tony inhales deeply and Stephen immediately follows suit. “Of course Pepper loves you. You’ve been there for her, for Morgan. You’ve been their rock. Why wouldn’t she love you?”

“Because I’m not you. I took your place.”

“You didn’t,” Tony says fiercely, grasping Stephen by the chin. “Pepper doesn’t love you because you took my place. She loves you because you’re you. You’re strong, snarky, sarcastic, cheekbones for days, especially right now because you need to eat more, you’ve been great to Morgan. You never took my place.”

“But—”

Tony lets out an inarticulate sound and presses his lips against Stephen’s. Stephen goes completely still, eyes wide. Pepper can see his pulse jumping wildly in his throat. His hands flutter uncertainly between them and Tony pulls back slightly, staring into Stephen’s shocked face. He gently takes those scarred hands and presses them over his chest, over his heart.

Stephen can feel Tony’s heart beating steadily under his palm, much less frantically than his own heart. Tony grips Stephen’s chin, looking him dead in the eyes. 

“Stay, Stephen.”

Pepper slips her arms around both men, resting her cheek against Stephen’s shoulder.

“Stay,” she says.

Stephen closes his eyes.

“Okay.”

:::

It’s not easy. Stephen knows he will take a long time to recover. He will always have a limp, even though his leg had healed.

Morgan stuck to his side like a particularly persistent tick. Once he’s awake she refuses to let him out of her sight.

It takes time for her to figure out what to call him. She’d seen the flash of pain across his face when she called him ‘Stephen’ the first time after Tony’s return. 

Finally, she settles on ‘Papa.’ Tony cries the first time Morgan calls Stephen that, watching as Stephen falls to his knees and weeps, his daughter’s arms tight around his shoulders.

Pepper insists that Stephen join them in the bedroom, although he is still far too weak to do anything but sleep. She sleeps between them, because Tony and Stephen are still figuring out how to navigate around each other.

Tony begins to court Stephen. He has years to catch up on, and as he gets to know the real Stephen, it becomes easy to see why Pepper would love him. He’s just Tony’s type and Pepper knows it, arching her eyebrow when she walks in on them curled up together. 

Stephen almost never initiates contact between them, letting Tony take the lead.

A year after his return from the dead, Stephen reaches out and cups Tony’s cheek, dropping a soft kiss on his lips.

Tony nearly sobs with relief.

Stephen finds himself fitting into their lives like he was meant to be there, waking up between Pepper and Tony, helping Morgan with her homework, spending time with their extended Avenger family.

For the first time since he’d seen all those futures on Titan, he was well and truly happy.

:::

The four of them sit on the grass, the sunlight filtering through the fall foliage on the trees. Stephen’s head rests in Tony’s lap, metal fingers kneading at his skull. Morgan braids grass and flowers together, finally resting a flower crown on Stephen’s head.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Stephen says, eyes closed in the sun.

Pepper leans into Tony’s side, watching her family with a smile. 

Her eyes lock with Tony’s and he smiles at her, nodding.

“Stephen,” Pepper says gently, reaching out and resting her hand on his chest. He blinks, squinting in the light of the sun. He focuses on her. Her hair glows in the sunlight and he’s struck anew by her beauty, and the fact that he gets to have her in his life.

“Yes?” he asks, voice drowsy.

Pepper reaches into her pocket and pulls out a familiar golden chain with a simple ring on it. Stephen’s eyes widen and he sits up, barely managing to keep his flower crown in place. His eyes are wide and he looks shocked.

“Two years ago I asked you to join our family, me and Morgan. You said yes, and then our lives changed.” She looks at Tony and they share a smile. Morgan sits pressed against Stephen’s side, practically vibrating with excitement. 

“I thought that was gone,” Stephen whispers.

“I kept it,” Pepper says. “Actually, Tony kept it in his arm, but anyway…”

“ _We_ kept it,” Tony says. “And we’re asking again. Officially.”

“Join our family, Papa,” Morgan says, looking up at Stephen with wide brown eyes.

Stephen sits there, tears streaming down his face, flower crown crooked on his head.

“You’re leaving us hanging here, Stephen,” Tony says, ducking out of the way as Pepper swats at him.

“Yes,” Stephen croaks. Morgan cheers and mushes a kiss against Stephen’s cheek. Pepper unclasps the gold chain and puts it around Stephen’s neck, fingers brushing his skin as she closes the chain.

“Morgan, cover your eyes,” Tony says. Morgan rolls her eyes but puts her hand over her eyes as Tony nearly tackles Stephen in a hug, their lips pressed together. Pepper lies out next to them, Morgan laughing as she’s pulled into an embrace.

The four of them lay on the grass, Tony pressed against Stephen’s side. Pepper drags her fingers through Stephen’s hair, dropping a kiss on his temple.

Tony deepens the kiss and Stephen opens himself to it, to Tony.

To love.

Tony laughs into the kiss as Morgan tackles the adults in a hug, pulling away from Stephen to wrap his free arm around his daughter.

He looks at Stephen’s smiling face, at Pepper’s happy smile. He hears Morgan’s delighted laugh and feels his own smile stretched across his face.

Stephen reaches up and runs his fingers through Tony’s greying hair. Tony smiles at him, kissing the tip of his fingers.

Stephen looks between them, his family.

And he’s finally, irrevocably, happy.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are love!!


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